Word: sectional
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There comes a time in the desultory career of every Harvard student when he realizes that section really, really sucks. Maybe it’s the umpteenth superfluous allusion to Nietzsche, or the teaching fellow’s (TF) apathy after five misbegotten years of grad school, or the fact that the only hot girl in the section seems to invariably—and wisely—drop the class. But whatever it is, he begins to dread that one, solitary, excruciating hour of the week as if it were a root canal...
...start with the disclaimer that I have had a few stellar TFs who even managed to run a half-decent section, usually in the English department. Not only do English TFs usually speak intelligible—even eloquent—English, they also seem to have a genuine passion for the literature they teach, much of which is pretty boring...
...then any surprise if the class itself becomes equally bored and disengaged? Every section the same thought process: “If I pipe in with a comment about the Kantian a priori synthetic, I’ll look like a tool, but then again, I need my section credit.” At the risk of playing the part of the German philosopher (every section has at least one, brimming with analogues to the Hegelian dialectic and quotes from Schopenhauer about Weltschmerz and the will), I make my paltry contribution...
Sometimes, a naïve, well-meaning freshman will actually try to engage you in constructive debate, which is kind of infuriating: doesn’t she know that section is supposed to be an endless string of monologues, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? (See, that’s the kind of glib literary allusion that one might make in section...
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